This application relates to and claims a priority from corresponding Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-382273 filed on Dec. 15, 2000.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flour milling roll machine for breaking grains, for example wheat grains, and more particularly to a flour milling roll machine in which remaining stock accumulated in the roll machine can easily be removed at the time of the maintenance after operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
A multiple roll machine used in a flour milling plant is well known. As shown in FIG. 1, the flour milling roll machine 101 of the multiple type has two sets of a pair of rolls 103, 104 within its frame 102. Such multiple roll machine is divided by a center partition board 105 so that two sets of the pair of the rolls 103, 104 operate independently. Also, roll axes 106, 107 are positioned such that a line linking two centers of the roll axes 106, 107 is horizontal, and thus such flour milling roll machine is effective in feeding the stock.
At the time of the maintenance after operation, it is necessary, as a routine operation, to clean and remove the remaining stock accumulated on a feeding hopper 108, a feeder gate plate 109, feeder rolls 110, 111, and a guide chute 112 and a portion between the rolls 103, 104. Such operation in the flour milling roll machine shown in FIG. 1, involves a procedure in which, at first, a side cover (not shown) and an outer door 113 positioned at an upper portion of the frame 102 are removed.
In the conventional flour milling roll machine, the outer door 113 is screwed to the frame 102 by a large number of bolts, and in the same way the side cover is also screwed to the frame 102 by a large number of bolts. When these doors are removed, since there are many bolts, the removing operation consumes a long time and is a troublesome operation. Upon the completion of the removing of the outer door 113 and the side cover from the frame 102, the components such as the feeder gate plate 109, the feeder rolls 110, 111, the guide chute 112 are exposed from an opening portion at the outer door 113. Then an operator puts his arm into the frame 102 through the opening at the outer door 113 and removes the remaining stock accumulated on each feeder component.
Also when the outer door 113 is removed, a roll cover 115 covering the pair of the rolls 103, 104 is exposed. At the time of maintenance, there is a case where the roll cover 115 is also removed. Such roll cover 115 is similarly fixed on the frame 102 by many bolts. Also, since the weight of the roll cover 115 is heavy, about 11 kg and the size thereof is large, for example 1,000xc3x97300 mm, the removing operation requires hard labor, and it is also necessary to secure a space around the machine to place the removed cover.
In view of the above circumstance, an object of the present invention, therefore, is to overcome the problems existing in the prior art, and to provide a flour milling roll machine in which the remaining stock accumulated in the roll machine can easily be removed at the time of maintenance.
According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a flour milling roll machine having, within a machine frame, at least a pair of rolls which are driven in a different circumference speed between the rolls, a roll gap adjusting means for adjusting a roll gap between the rolls, and a stock feeding means for feeding raw material stock in a thin layer state to the gap between the rolls, the flour milling roll machine comprising:
a front door for covering an opening in the machine frame located at a diagonally upper side of the rolls, the front door having a hinge at its upper edge portion connected to an upper portion of the opening so that it is swung outwardly and upwardly about the hinge and finally is kept at a self-supporting position;
a roll cover divided into a main roll cover for covering over an upper portion of the rolls, and a feed roll cover for covering the stock feeding means;
a first fulcrum axis arranged between the main roll cover and one end of the feed roll cover, the main roll cover being foldable on the feed roll cover about the first fulcrum axis; and
a second fulcrum axis arranged between the other end of the feed roll cover and an internal predetermined portion of the machine frame, the feed roll cover being swung outwardly and upwardly about the second fulcrum axis with the main roll cover being kept as the folded state and finally being kept as the self-supporting position,
wherein, where the front door is opened in the self-supporting position, the roll cover is exposed; where the main roll cover is folded about the first fulcrum axis over the feed roll cover, a part of upper portions of the rolls is exposed and, further, where the feed roll cover is swung about the second fulcrum axis and is finally kept at the self-supporting position, the entire upper portions of the rolls and the stock feeding means are exposed so that remaining stock accumulated thereon can be removed with ease.
The feed roll cover may have at its tip portion a finger guard with a plurality of long holes which prevents operator""s hands from being caught between the rolls.
The flour milling roll machine may further comprise brush scrapers each of which is abutted to a surface of each of the rolls for raking stock adhering to the rolls, the brush scrapers being adjusted if the rolls are glazed when the rolls and the stock feeding means are exposed.
The flour milling roll machine may further comprise a front wall in the frame which is opened during maintenance, the front wall having a hinged portion connected to the frame.
The flour milling roll machine may further comprise a bottom cover which covers a lower portion of one of the rolls and which is opened during maintenance, the bottom cover having a hinged portion connected to the frame.
According to the invention, when the operator opens the front door of the roll machine by swinging the bottom edge of the front door upwardly from the front side so that the door is self-supported, the roll covers covering a pair of the rolls are exposed. At this state, where the main roll cover is first folded toward the feed roll cover and, then, the feed roll cover is swung upwardly with the main roll cover being folded, the feeder gate plate, the front feeder roll, the main roll and the guide chute, which are the components of the stock feeding means, are exposed.
Then, in the case where there is an accumulation of the stock on the periphery of the components such as the feeder gate plate, the front feeder roll and the guide chute, the operator removes such stock by using a cleaning means such as an air compressor and a brush. As above, because of no bolts for fixing the front door and the roll cover to the frame, removing operation of screws which is troublesome and time consuming is not necessary. As a consequence, the maintenance can be finished in a short time and the operation becomes easy.